EDITORIAL: Dining out: Proof of recovery

Published: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 12:24 PM.

When people meet at coffee shops or in boardrooms to discuss where Northwest Florida’s economy is headed, their questions are usually the same: Will the Defense Department spend more money here? Will more troops be stationed here? Will more tourists and snowbirds visit our shores to shop and eat and rent rooms?
Seldom mentioned are the folks who already live here. They’re part of the economy. They spend money, too.
Just ask Dana Chandler, who owns the Donut Hole eateries in Destin and Santa Rosa Beach with her husband, Brent.
“More people are eating out again as the economy is getting better,” she told Business Editor Dusty Ricketts for a story we published last week. “We couldn’t survive without our locals. We’ve got great local support and loyalty. We have people who eat breakfast (at the Donut Hole) every day.”
Ms. Chandler was responding to the National Restaurant Association’s industry forecast for 2014, which predicts 4.5 percent sales growth for Florida restaurants. She said her Donut Holes have seen continued growth since the 2010 oil spill — which clobbered local sales for most of a year — and she expects a strong 2014.
So do other restaurant owners Dusty interviewed.
The key to their optimism isn’t just the receding memory of the BP spill. It’s also the fact that the Great Recession really is over and economic indicators really are bouncing back.
More people are working. From one end of 2013 to the other, Okaloosa County’s unemployment rate fell from 6 percent to 4.4 percent. Walton County’s fell from 5.6 percent to 4 percent.
More people are buying homes. Emerald Coast home sales were up 10 percent to 20 percent most months last year compared with the same months the previous year, the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist said Jan. 16.
So it makes sense that if area residents have more money to spend, they’ll do more eating out. Good for local restaurants. Good for the local economy.

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When people meet at coffee shops or in boardrooms to discuss where Northwest Florida’s economy is headed, their questions are usually the same: Will the Defense Department spend more money here? Will more troops be stationed here? Will more tourists and snowbirds visit our shores to shop and eat and rent rooms?
Seldom mentioned are the folks who already live here. They’re part of the economy. They spend money, too.
Just ask Dana Chandler, who owns the Donut Hole eateries in Destin and Santa Rosa Beach with her husband, Brent.
“More people are eating out again as the economy is getting better,” she told Business Editor Dusty Ricketts for a story we published last week. “We couldn’t survive without our locals. We’ve got great local support and loyalty. We have people who eat breakfast (at the Donut Hole) every day.”
Ms. Chandler was responding to the National Restaurant Association’s industry forecast for 2014, which predicts 4.5 percent sales growth for Florida restaurants. She said her Donut Holes have seen continued growth since the 2010 oil spill — which clobbered local sales for most of a year — and she expects a strong 2014.
So do other restaurant owners Dusty interviewed.
The key to their optimism isn’t just the receding memory of the BP spill. It’s also the fact that the Great Recession really is over and economic indicators really are bouncing back.
More people are working. From one end of 2013 to the other, Okaloosa County’s unemployment rate fell from 6 percent to 4.4 percent. Walton County’s fell from 5.6 percent to 4 percent.
More people are buying homes. Emerald Coast home sales were up 10 percent to 20 percent most months last year compared with the same months the previous year, the National Association of Realtors’ chief economist said Jan. 16.
So it makes sense that if area residents have more money to spend, they’ll do more eating out. Good for local restaurants. Good for the local economy.